First Nickel Inc. has announced the discovery of a potentially significant nickel sulphide deposit along the northern ridge of the Sudbury Basin.
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Using diamond drill holes, Falconbridge (performing the work on First Nickel's behalf) discovered the Nickel Sulphide on the Morgan-Lumsden property, located on the northern ridge of the basin approximately 15 kilometres east of Falconbridge's Strathcona Mill facility.
First Nickel president and CEO Elizabeth Kirkwood says the discovery is big in the nickel industry where Inco and Falconbridge have been the dominant players over the last 120 years.
"For the first time, a little company could come along and take something that wasn't working for a major and make it work because we can do it more strategically, with less people and with smarter mining," said Kirkwood of her 16-month-old company.
"Anything that happens in this basin is also good for Greater Sudbury because that's where the workforce comes from."
First Nickel employs more than 100 workers and has two offices in Greater Sudbury.
First Nickel entered into partnership with Falconbridge, who now owns 20 percent of the junior mining company. In return, First Nickel has acquired Lockerby Mine and three Falconbridge properties in the Basin, including Morgan-Lumsden, for the purpose of exploration.
The agreement states that any nickel discovery less than 150 million pounds can be mined by First Nickel. Larger deposits would still be mined by Falconbridge.
